Calendar Challenge - March

My stamping friend Sue Small-Kreider recently asked me if I wanted to join in with her new calendar challenge.  It sounded like fun.  She provided us with the monthly calendar pages that she stamped with the Spellbinders BetterPress, and we would decorate them.  She had made her calendar pages for January and February, but I didn't join her group until March.  Here is her calendar page.

My Irish ancestry always shows itself in March.  I love to make St. Patrick's Day cards, so I continued this tradition by making my calendar page in a similar theme.

I didn't have a leprechaun in the right proportion for the page, but I did have a small Riley & Company gnome who I dressed in green.  The pot of gold is part of the Karen Burniston Good Luck Charms die set; the clouds are part of her Tropical Scene die set; and the grass is from her Nature's Edges set.  I have several rainbow dies, and the one that worked the best for this scene is Trinity Stamps' Rainbow Builder.  I stamped the birds with a stamp I have had for many years; and unfortunately, I have no idea who made it.  In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I stamped a very small shamrock on March 17th on the calendar.

I'm looking forward to continuing this challenge for the rest of the year.  I hope you'll come back on the first of every month to see my calendar pages.

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peek - Day 5

For today's sneak peek, I returned to the Stocking Pop-Up.  This time, however, I did not make either a Halloween or a Christmas card.  I wanted to show the versatility of this particular die set, so I made a castle-related birthday card.  On the front I did a bit of mixing and matching of word sets and added a computer-generated phrase at the end.

Attached to the pop-up mechanism on the inside is the Dragon from the Knight and Dragon set.  He pops up and blows his fiery breath at you.

Only a few more days until the Blog Hop on Monday, where you could win one of many $25 gift certificates to the Karen Burnison website.  

Karen Burniston New Release Day 6

I'm still in the beach/ocean mode with today's sneak peek.  Those Sea Charms and Beach Borders are so cute!  My card today combines them with the Wide Woven Basket Box Card from the last release as well as several other previously released sets.  This shows that Karen's dies are perfect for combining with each other.  

Not only did I place the crab Beach Border around the bottom of the Woven Basket, but I also placed a couple of the cut-apart crabs in the water with the mermaids.  A section from the Castle Pop-Up set adds a sand-castle background.

Only a few more days to wait before the new dies are available for purchase.  They will be on the Karen Burniston website on Monday, February 20th.
 

Karen Burniston New Release Day 5

I've got another Beach Hut for you today.  Inspired by Karen Burniston's Designer Challenge card from last month, I've been adding a couple of Bam Boxes inside the Tiny House to make it pop-up in places other than the fold.  

I could add only one Bam Box to the Beach Hut because of the window in the front.  I have found that two boxes inside the house give a bit more "oomph" to the pop-up movement. 

My card is a modified gate-fold card, similar to the one Karen made -- although my card is an A2 size rather than a 5 1/2" square card.  I used some of the dies from the new Word Set 16 - Beach Happy Hour on the front, as well as waves from Tropical Scene.

I carried the layout from the front to the inside -- waves and sand.  The add-on set has a couple of palm trees, and I added one to the back of the hut with some foam strips.

The cocktail glasses are glued onto a strip of acetate which I had glued inside.

These new dies will be available for purchase on Monday, February 20th.

Beach Hut

 In yesterday's Blog Hop post, Karen Burniston mentioned that the new Tiny House/Mushroom House Add-on dies could be used to make a beach hut.  The idea started some gears turning in my brain, and I ran with them.  I cut both the Tiny House Pop-Up from some patterned paper and constructed it, using the windows, door and roof from the Mushroom House Add-On.  I then cut the Tiny Trees out and did a bit of pruning on the branches -- removing them totally.  Using the smaller fronds die from the Palm Tree Pop-Up, I made two palm trees.  I had never used the new Fold Splitter (from the Tiny Trees Pop-Up), so this was a new adventure.  I'm pretty pleased with the result.

The front of the card is made using the larger palm tree from the Palm Tree Pop-Up and some of the Tropical Scene dies and Word Set 6 - Summer.

Those cute little crabs were stamped on some Shrinky Dink plastic and heated so that they shrunk down to size.

This is actually the second card I made.  The first one was 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" square; but it was too small, and the elements on the inside were bumping into each other.  So I salvaged the palm trees and the hut and made a second card -- this one is a 5" x 7" card.

The inside turned out much better on this larger card.

I've been having lots of fun using Karen's new dies.

Karen Burniston Sneak Peek - Day 3

 And the fun continues . . . .   Day 3 of the Karen Burniston new release.  Today I have a slimline card -- but a very special one.  It's using one of the new dies called Slim Flaps & Frames.  Oh, the "Welcome" is also new and has a shadow die as well.

Each one of those four flaps is held down using a tiny magnet.  They open individually to reveal the inside of the card.   The Tiny Trees are back today.

You can see another "add-on" set here as well.  Tiny Fruit contains dies for oranges, lemons, cherries, apples, pears, and peaches.  As this is a "Florida" card, I used the oranges, lemons, and colored the lemons green for limes.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the cards I've shown so far this week.  I've got a few more to show you the rest of the week as well.  I hope you'll come back again.

CCEE2109 - Old Stuff Day

 Frances starts her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with a good challenge.  She says:  "Apparently the 2nd of March was Old Stuff Day.  For our challenge this week, let's combine something older (stamps, dies, etc.) with something newish."  Whenever I have to use "something old," I always go back to the very first Stampin' Up stamp set I ever bought -- Fishy Friends.  My "something newish" is not a brand-new set (it's from 2018), but it's new to me and the first time it's seen ink.

This mermaid from Hero Arts is my newish item.  It is popped up on a CottageCutz rock attached to a Karen Burniston Mini Pop-Up die, surrounded by waves from KB Tropical Scene.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see how the rest of the team handled this old/new challenge.

CCEE2108 Fairytale Madness

 Manal finishes up her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with a fun challenge.  She reminded us that we all have been huge on fairytales in our childhood (and the inner child in us still adores them).  She asked us to create something featuring a favorite fairytale/carnival or a circus.  The choice was ours.  I decided to Google "fairytales" for inspiration.   From the huge list I found I chose a Scandinavian fairy tale --  The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson.  It was included in a book called Fairy Tales Told for Children.

Those cute little mermaids were constructed using the Karen Burniston Princess & Mermaid die set.  I used a white gel pen to highlight the waves behind them.

I'm looking forward to seeing what fairytales the rest of the CCEE Stampers team have used for inspiration for this challenge.  Check out the blog to see for yourself.

Beach Days

One of the new Karen Burniston dies is the Purse Pop-Up, and  I've created several cards using this die.  Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night, can't go back to sleep, and a card design pops into your head?  I'm sure we've all done that.  My card today is the result of one such middle-of-the-night occasion.  I thought the purse would make a cute beach bag.  So, using several other KB dies (Beach Charms, Tiny Accessories, Crosshatch Rectangles, Natures Edges, Border Blends and Tropical Scene), I created this card.

I'm still trying to think of more ways to use this cute Purse Pop-Up.

Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" - Masculine/Father's Day

The theme for June's Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" challenge is Masculine or Father's Day.    My late husband was a model railroad enthusiast, so I've got a train card for you today.  It's a bridge card, which is rather similar to a gatefold card in that it folds from both sides.  The difference is the "bridge," which spans the space between the two sides.

Following a tutorial I found on Splitcoaststampers, I made my card and used a thin strip of clear acetate and glued down my train tracks on it before I attached it to either side of the card.   The train and tracks are part of the Karen Burniston Train Pivot Panels die set; however, I did not use the pop-up mechanism.  The sun and clouds are from Karen Burniston's Tropical Scene set.  The Father's Day sentiment is from Cottage Cutz.

When closed, this card will fit into a standard A2 envelope.

Be sure to check out the Scor-Pal blog for some more masculine cards.

"More Than One Score" -- Think Summer

The Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" Challenge this month is Warmer Days (think Summer, warm colors, etc.) I made an additional card for this challenge.   I live in Florida, so lots of people go to the beach when it gets warm.  My card is a diorama, depicting a day at the beach.

The size of the card is 4 1/2" x 4 1/2", 1" inches deep.  It was pretty simple to construct, even with the three layers of "scenery."    To construct, I cut two pieces of light yellow 4 1/2" x 7 1/2", scoring at 1 1/2" and 6".  The ocean waves and beach line were made using a Karen Burniston die set called Tropical Scene.  I added some fun elements -- the turtle crawling out of the water, the flip flops sitting on the sand, and the bright sun in the sky.  I computer-generated the sentiment and cut it out with a Spellbinders banner die, sponging a bit of blue before I took the cardstock out of the die.

If you'd like a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the Scor-Pal shop, make a "warm" card and post it on our blog.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Beach Day

It's time for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge once again -- this month it's all about the beach.   That's a great place to be when you live in Florida!  I pulled out the Circle Tag Book and some fun fishy stamps for this one.

Using several different pieces of patterned paper, I created this little beach scene -- stamping some sea gulls above the palm trees from the Tropical Scene set.

But inside is where the fun part lies.

I love those sweet little stamped fish, framed in the twisted frames from the Circle Tag Book, as well as a few small seashells from the Tropical Scene.  Here's a closer look at them.

Somewhere my brain stopped working, and I didn't remember that I had done this card; so I made a second card, which I will also share today -- this one using the Palm Tree Pop-Up, the Rockin' Rectangle, Tropical Scene, and Sea Animals.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you can plan a trip to the beach sometime soon!

Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" - Warmer Days

It's June 1st, time for another Scor-Pal "More Than One Score challenge.  This month the theme is "Warmer Days.   Summer is already here in Florida . . . and much of the rest of the country.  It has been in the 90s for weeks here.

For my challenge card I made a Z-Box Fold Card.  Of course, I used my Scor-Pal to make the several score lines for the folds and Scor-Tape to hold down much of the background paper.

In addition, I used several dies from Karen Burniston to create my scene -- Tropical Landscape and Beach Charms.

If you'd like to join in on our summer fun and maybe win a $25 gift certificate to the Scor-Pal store, make a card and post it on the Scor-Pal blog.

CCEE1911 National Shoe the World Day

Kelly continues this week as hostess for the CCEE Stampers.  She tells us that tomorrow is National Shoe the World Day.  Many teens and children around the world do not have a pair of shoes to wear;  despite the climate or terrain, they walk barefoot.  She asked us to create a card using any type of shoe -- cowboy boots, heels, flip-flops -- to help the awareness to donate any shoes you may no longer need.

My doctor of 45+ years retired earlier this month.  I now have the daunting task of finding another doctor.  I'm not one to hold a grudge, so I made this card for him!  I used the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle die for the card base, as well as a couple of accessory dies.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see what kind of shoe cards were created by the rest of the team.